The 86th Holy Figure

This work is originally inspired by a commissioned statue of Liu Xiahui ("柳下惠"), an ancestor who is also divinized as Saint He (“和圣”, He Sheng), when the artist went back to his hometown to visit his family members. The artist made the kindred connection with the Saint by tracing back the family tree. He then reflected on his circumstances as the eighty-sixth decent of the Saint.

He makes eighty-six identical colored mud sculpture of Liu and puts them up. Afterward, he smashes them one after another, until the eighty-sixth sculpture is erected. The iconic statue remains, but wreckages spread over the floor.

Finally, he sent back the only remaining intact one, together with the fragments of other eighty-five sculptures, to the Shrine of Saint He at his hometown. In this way, he finished his journey of recalling the past and reflecting on the present. However, should we feel sad about the invariability, while no matter how many times we destroy, the erected one remains as before?